The Bet Made in Heaven
by Quidditch Anyone
Summary: Fred and George have a sneaky bet going on. Who will hook-up? Ron and Hermione or Harry and Hermione? Oh my God, I UPDATED!!!
1. The Bet

The Bet

Just another boring day in Charms. Professor Flitwick was chatting on about how to make lamps dance across tables or something like that; nobody was really listening anyway. The one acception was Hermione, of course. Nothing could distract her away from a lesson. Not even the beautiful shining emerald eyes of Harry Potter. But how could someone's eyes attract the attention of Hermione when she was scribbling away on her parchment taking notes of proper wand movements? Especially eyes like Harry's. It's not like she hasn't seen them before. She sees them every day! Some people wish she would notice them, though. It was common knowledge that everyone who ever gave Harry or Hermione a second thought wished they would become more than just friends. They couldn't do that, though. Of course not! That would be like being attracted to your sibling. Nope, as far as Harry, Ron, and Hermione were concerned, they would stay friends- just friends- forever.

·~··~··~·

After 20 minutes of constent writing, Hermione's hand was getting tired. Maybe she would take just a short break for a minute. She dropped her quill in the ink bottle and stretched her fingers. Then she rested her head on her hand and gazed out the window. In her line of sight, Ron's red hair and freckled face was in the way. His hand was also supporting his head, but his mouth was open and his eyelids drooping. Hermione smiled in her head. Ron looked sort of cute when he's tired.

Hermione came out of her daze and shook her head. Had she just thought of Ron as 'cute'? She couldn't have. This was _Ron_ she was talking about. _Ron Weasley_. No, it was just a crazy thought that popped into her head. But if it just popped up, how come it wouldn't just pop out? Why was she still thinking about his silly face or the way he looked so innocent? Why?

_Because you're bored out of your mind, that's why,_ she thought. Nothing more than that. _Just forget it. Now, if the lamp you are enchanting is a floor lamp..._

·~··~··~·

"Queen to C-4," Harry said to the tiny army of chess pieces. The stone Queen moved ahead one space on the board.

George rubbed his chin for a second. Then he smiled a very smug smile.

"Knight to D-11. Checkmate, Harry," he said superiorly.

Harry hung his head in shame. George had beaten him for the third time in a row.

"Give it up, Harry. I'm going to bed anyway," George yawned.

"Me too," Fred said as he rubbed his eye with the back of his hand. "You two coming?" He turned to the couch where Hermione and Ron were sitting. 

"Aww, they look so cute together," George said sweetly. Ron had fallen asleep with his hand supporting his head, just like in Charms. Only this time, Hermione was leaning against his shoulder, also fast asleep and looking very comfortable.

"They would be so cute together," Fred said honestly as he sorted the chess pieces.

"What do you mean, together?" Harry said with a smile, guessing the answer.

"Oh, Harry. You know perfectly well what I mean," Fred responded sneakily. "And don't you agree with me?"

"No," Harry responded definatly. But he still couldn't help to smile. The twins were right. They did make an awfully nice couple, but then again it was Ron and Hermione, who would rather eat bubotuber pus, swallow a dungbomb, and run around the school in their underwear than even consider going out on a date. That's just the way it was, and always would be.

"Well, can't blame a bloke for having an imagination. Just picture it. Mrs. Hermione Weasley. Better yet, 'You are invited to the wedding of Miss Hermione Granger and Mr. Ronniekins Weasley'. Kinda has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Fred prodded.

Harry couldn't help but laugh. "Stop talking crazy."

"Yeah, Fred. Everyone knows Hermione will end up with Harry some day," George said.

Harry turned beet red. "Now _that's_ crazy. How many times do I have to tell people? We-are-just-friends!"

The twins couldn't stop now, though. They were on a role.

"Which is nicer? Mrs. Hermione Potter or Mrs. Hermione Weasley? Harry and Hermione cordially invite you or Ronald and Hermione cordially invite you?" 

"Oh, shut up," Harry yawned as he ascended the staircase.

·~··~··~·

"Seriously, though. They do look nice together," Fred said as he put on his pajamas.

"Yeah. And I think Harry might like her, too," George told his twin.

Fred looked at George with a puzzled face. "I was talking about Ron."

"Ron? Ha! Like he would ever get a girlfriend!" George said casually.

"I don't know. I can just picture Hermione with him more than Harry."

"No way. I bet Harry admits he likes her before Ron even realized she's a girl," George said.

"Care to make it interesting, then?" Fred's eyebrows went up as he spoke.

"What do you mean, old brother of mine?" George asked slyly.

"I mean a bet."

"A bet?"

"On who gets together first; Ron and Hermione or Harry and Hermione."

"Are you serious?" George responded skeptically. "They're all late bloomers. We'll have this bet for years!"

"Not if we help just a bit," Fred said. "Come on, what do you say?"

"I say you're on! What are we betting?"

"How about... all of the money under your mattress," Fred said innocently.

"What!? That must be 50 Galleons!"

"I have about that in my hidden underwear drawer."

"Good hiding place. No one will ever look there," George said under his breath.

"So it's a deal?" Fred held out his hand.

George moved his lips to one side of his mouth; a sign that he was thinking hard. Then he took his brother's hand.

"Deal!"

Personally, I don't think this is as good as my first story. The only reason I'm writing this one is because I'm stuck on what to write next for chapter 5! I left off in the worst situation. (If you haven't read it yet I suggest you do if you like Ron/Hermione fics:) I'm extremely tired right now, so if this sounds totally stupid, please forgive me. I think I'm sleep-writing.


	2. Thinking of You

Thinking of You

Ron's eyes slowly opened. Everything around him was a bit blurry. He blinked back some morning tears and tried to stretch, but couldn't due to a large amount of weight on his side. He looked over and saw Hermione's head resting lightly on his shoulder. Ron was sure she didn't mean to fall asleep against him like that, but it still felt a little awkward having one of his best friends leaning up against him while sleeping. Not exactly sure what to do, he nudged her hoping she would wake up.

"Er... Hermione? Umm, could you... get off me?" he whispered, feeling stupid. Slowly Hermione began to stir. She pushed on his chest in order to sit up. Then she stretched and looked around. As she looked to her side she realized that thing she was leaning against had been Ron.

"Ahh! Oh, sorry Ron," she began awkwardly. "I... er... didn't mean to."

"That's-that's okay," he responded. Ron's biggest concern was that some one saw them together on the sofa like that. It was then he saw a picture on the table.

"What's this?" he said as he picked it up. It was a wizard photograph of him and Hermione on the couch together. They were moving very little; their chests rising up and down as they breathed deeply.

"This could be the work of only one of two people; my brothers," Ron said savagly.

"Oh well," Hermione yawned. She walked up to her dormitory without another word to Ron.

Ron looked at the picture again. He and Hermione looked so comfortable together. From this point of view, it didn't look strange at all. In fact, it looked almost... natural.

What was Ron thinking? His hand moved to the few embers left in the fire. The last thing he needed was for everyone to see a photograph of him and Hermione like this. The teasing would kill him. But he couldn't bring himself to burn it, somehow. He wasn't sure why, but he kept it.

·~··~··~·

"Harry. Harry, wake up," George shook Harry awake violently.

"Wha-what?" Harry mumbled.

"Morning, chap! Today is your first day as a new man. Follow me!" George said brightly as he heaved Harry out of bed.

"What are you talking about, George?" Harry asked groggily.

George sighed. "Harry, it's time you made some changes in your life. It's for the better, you know."

"Changes? What kind of changes? I like my life," Harry questioned as he was steared into the bathroom.

"It's time you got a girlfriend, Harry."

Harry was now wide awake. "What? Why do you want me to get a girlfriend?"

"Because," George said simply.

"Because why?"

"Why not? Now, Harry. The first thing we have to do is rethink this hair," George took a small pair of scissors out of his pocket and snipped the air with them.

"NO! There is no way you're coming after me with any sort of sharp objects! I don't trust you!" Harry called as he ran out of the bathroom.

"Oh, come on now, Harry! How are you going to impress the ladies with that mop on your head?" George shouted just as loud as Harry, waking up the rest of the boys in Harry's dormitory.

Harry looked in the mirror in back of the door. Maybe he could use a new look. But he certainly wasn't going to trust George to give him a new 'do'.

After much arguing that morning, Harry reasoned with George and they agreed Harry would go to Hogsmeade and get a nice trim in the barber shop.

"I still don't understand why you want to get me a girlfriend," Harry said.

"Well, let's just say I know somebody who likes you and it could be a match made in heaven. I'm just playing cupid."

"Well, let's just hope I don't get shot with any stray arrows." Harry said hoplessly.

"Oh, don't worry. I have this all planned out..." George rubbed his greedy hands together and couldn't help thinking, _that 50 Galleons has got my name on it..._

·~··~··~·

Hermione slowly climbed to stairs to her domritory. She was not awake enough to notice Fred standing again the rail with his arms folded in front of his chest until she bumped into him.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Fred," she said sleepily and she started to climb the steps again. Then she turned back around and said sharply, "Wait, what are _you_ doing here? This is the _girls'_ staircase!"

Fred grinned and hopped up the stairs to stand next to her. Then he put his hand and her backed and guided her roughly back down.

"I was looking for you," he said.

"Why? What did I do wrong?" Hermione asked, puzzled.

"Oh, nothing. I just wanted to comment on how you and Ronnie were... er... _positioned_ last night," Fred said evily.

"Oh! Oh, that," Hermione said, surprised. "Well, we didn't mean to. It just kind of... happened. It was a complete accident, I assure you."

"Mmm hmm," Fred replied. "Well, lots of things that 'just happened accidentally' can lead to other things, you know. Big things."

It took Hermione a minute to figure out what Fred was trying to say. Then she blushed. "It was an accident, Fred! We didn't plan it! It's not a big deal!"

"Well, maybe it is. You know, Hermy," Fred said as Hermione scowled. She hated to name 'Hermy'. "You and Ron make quite a cute little couple. If you two keep up these kind of things, you could become fond of one another, you know..."

Hermione looked at him with cold eyes. "Nose out, Fred. Those sort of things will never happen between Ron and I. Just forget it." she turned back around and headed up the stairs.

_Hmm,_ Fred thought as he watched her back go up the stairs._ I know she likes him, but I shouldn't have pried. She's too smart to let something slip. I have to go to the idiot in this little partnership. I wonder if Ron's at breakfast yet..._

·~··~··~·

A grin appeared on Fred's freckled face when he saw his little brother alone at the Gryffindor table. He walked happily over and pulled out a chair beside him. Ron's head turned around just enough to see who it was, then went back to his bacon.

"Morning," mumbled Ron.

"Morning, little brother! Beautiful day, don't you agree? Even more beautiful when you wake with a girl asleep on your shoulder, right?"

"Shhh!!!" Ron responded instantly. He looked around to see if anyone heard anything. Luckily, hardly anyone was at the table yet and the comment was ignored. "Shut up, will you?" he whispered.

"How did that seem to happen?" Fred questioned innocently as he started to pile sausages on his plate.

"Well, I don't know! I fell asleep, which all humans do, and I woke up to find Hermione, who had _by accident_ fallen asleep right on me!" Ron whispered irritably.

"You really think it was a mistake? Don't you think maybe she did it on purpose?"

"Why would she do that?" Ron said even more angrily.

"Well, look at the situation through Hermione's eyes. Here you are, cute as hell, sleeping innocently on the couch. Me, George, and Harry are paying too much attention to a chess match to notice you or Ron at the moment, so she thinks 'Hmm. He looks so adorable when he's napping! Oh, it was be so wonderful to snuggle up next to him and put his arm around me! It would be like heaven!'" Fred pronounced, immitating Hermione's voice with a high, weepy one.

"Come off it," Ron shook his head, but he started turning red around his ears. "You're being ridiculous!"

"Oh, am I?" Fred grinned.

Rin chose not to respond. Hermione didn't do it on purpose! Why would she? She doesn't think he's adorable! Fred's just being a jerk. _But then why didn't she think the situation was as strange as you thought it to be?_ a voice said in his head. Ron didn't listen to the voice. _Because,_ he thought. _Just because._

·~··~··~·

Hermione opened the door to her room. All of the girls were still sleeping. She yawned, thinking about Ron. The she brushed her teeth and washed her face, still thinking about Ron. She thought about Ron as she dressed and combed her hair. Then she went back down the stairs, hoping to see Ron.

Hermione stopped in her tracks. Why was she thinking about Ron so much? When no reasonable answer came to her, she just made one up. _There's a question I need to ask him, and I don't want to forget to ask, _she decided. She probably should have come up with the question too, but she was too busy thinking about Ron.

She stepped happily into the common room, expecting to see Ron. Instead he saw Harry tying his shoe laces.

"Where's Ron?" Hermione asked him.

Harry shrugged. "Don't know. Why?"

"Well, he's not in here!" Hermione said desperately.

"Well, then, he's probably at breakfast. Don't have a cow," Harry said as he turned his attention back to his shoes.

"Of course! Breakfast!" Hermione raced out of the common room.

"Hey, wait for me!" Harry said as he tripped over his laces.

"Oh. Right," Hermione waited impatiently as Harry redid the lacings. She started fidgeting. "Hurry up."

"Why so anxious to see Ron?" Harry asked as he stood up.

"Well, I don't know," Hermione realized. "He's my friend. I'm suposed to see him," she made up.

"Well, I'm your friend too and I barely got a 'Good morning' from you," Harry said with his hands on his hips. He looked sort of sweet when he was irritated.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry," Hermione apologized.

"Yeah, well," Harry said, still a little hurt. "Let's just go to breakfast."

"Okay," Hermione put on a huge smile.

Together they walked down the halls, chatting casually. Well, to be honest, Harry chatted and Hermione just said things like 'Right', 'Mmm', and 'Yeah'.

Harry kept glancing sideways at her. Why was she ignoring him? Hermione didn't notice his glances. She just kept walking towards the Great Hall.

She opened the door for Harry, but before he could walk in she darted inside, so the doors closed before Harry got in. Harry grumbled and pulled them open again, only to find Hermione dashing across the floor towards Ron.

Harry sat across from his two friends. Hermione gave a cheerful 'hello!' to Ron as she sat down close to him.

"Hi," Ron mumbled back.

"Could you pass the butter, Hermione?" Harry asked. Hermione gave him the butter but was still looking at Ron with a smile on her face.

"And the syrup?" Harry added. Hermione repeated the proccess with the syrup.

"How about some eggs, too?" Harry asked almost angrily. How long could she ignore him? Hermione pushed a bowl of srambled eggs towards Harry absentmindedly.

"Now give my your fork, your muffin, your hat, and all of your money," Harry demanded. Hermione just mumbled, "In a minute Harry," then said brightly "So, Ron. What are your plans for the day?"

Harry couldn't take it. He marched away to the other end of the table. He sighed as he sat down alone. He had barely taken a bite of toast when George sat across from him.

"Why all alone, Harry?" asked the twin.

"Don't worry. No one will notice if I'm there or not," Harry said sadly.

"What's the matter?" George frowned.

Harry looked up at George. Should he really tell him? He knew for certain George would just make up a dumb joke instead of try to help, and Harry wasn't in the mood for being made fun of right now. But George leaned in towards Harry. "It's not Hermione, is it?" he asked. Harry couldn't read his expression.

"Well, sort of, I guess," Harry lied. Of course it was Hermione, but could he tell George that for sure?

"What did she do?" George asked seriously.

"It's not what she did, it's what she didn't do," Harry admitted. He sighed. "She barely talked to me this morning. Then she saw Ron and became chatty once again. What did I do to upset her?"

Geroge looked very concerned. _What's up with George caring about my social life all of a sudden?_ Harry thought.

"She's ignoring you, eh? And she's being extra nice towards Ron? Boy, I'll get him. I'm not going down without a fight," George said mostly to himself. What on earth was he talking about?

·~··~··~·

George marched towards Fred, who had moved next to Lee Jordon.

"We need to talk. NOW," George stated.

"Why, what's the matter, dear George?" Fred said innocently.

"You tell me, Fred," George pointed to Ron, who was very red, and Hermione, who was smiling and chatting sweetly with him.

"Oh, will you look at that!" Fred said sarcasticly. "Looks like little Ronnie and Hermy have grown attached! Maybe it had something with their little slumber party."

George was not pleased. "What did you do, Fred?"

Fred's smirk disapeared. "Hey, we agreed that we could help all we want to get the ball rolling."

George narrowed his eyes. "No regular prodding could have done this. You used magic, I know you did."

Fred looked shocked. "I did not!"

"Then what did you do?" George raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"Nothing!" Fred said with an unhidden smile. "Well, I just took a snapshot of them together and 'accendentally' left it out where they could see it. It's not _my_ fault they saw it and fell instantly in love! And I just... left them with a few thoughts about each other, too."

George justed stared at his brother. "All right. But I'm not backing down yet. Come tomorrow, Hermione will be so attacked to Harry we'll have to pry her off with a broomstick."


	3. The Handsome Harry

The Handsome Harry

Later that day, the students were taking a trip to Hogsmeade. George reminded Harry of his promise to let George help him get a new look.

"I feel so stupid," Harry said as they entered Rodrick's Barber Shoppe, Harry being pushed in by George.

"You won't feel stupid after you see your new haircut."

"Can I help you boys?" asked a rather chubby man with a white smock on.

"Are you Rodrick?" asked George.

"Why, yes I am!" said the barber as he stood proudly.

"Well, in that case, yes," George said. "You see, my friend here is trying to impress a girl, and- ow!" Harry had just stomped on George's foot. "What I mean is, my friend wants to attract the attention of a-" George got the wind knocked out of him, because Harry's elbow had 'slipped' and punched George in the stomach. George tried to catch his breath and managed to say in a strained voice, "Harry needs a haircut," before dropping into a wooden chair by the door.

"Ah! I see," said Rodrick. "Well, I will be the one to assist you, young man." He pushed Harry down into a cushioned chair that instintly rose up so Harry could see himself in the speckled mirror.

"What kind of look do you want?" Rockrick said as he took out his wand.

"Well, er..."

"WAIT!" Rodrick said. He snapped his fingers. "I got it! I know just the look for you!"

Harry gulped and watched as the barber spun the chair this way and that, all the time pointing his wand to certain sections of his hair.

"There!" Rodrick said as he placed the chair back properly. Harry looked at himself and almost screamed. His hair had been gelled up in tall spikes and colored blue.

George fell out of his chair laughing. Rodrick was too pleased to notice.

"Umm, I was thinking about something a little less... blue," Harry said.

"All right, then!"

Rodrick waved his wand wildly again and soon Harry saw himself with a red moehawk.

"No, no... I just wanted it a little more... or a little less... no, just no," Harry shook his head, stunned.

In a few minutes Harry's hair had been covered in gel, shaved, lengthened, twisted, and dyed every color imaginable.

"Maybe if I could choose something out of a book?" Harry asked as he pushed long dreadlocks out of his eyes.

Rodrick looked very disapointed and sighed. "Fine!" he said as he tossed Harry a book.

Harry thumbed through the pages until he found something that suited his taste. Then he found what he was looking for. It was short, but not too short. Parted to the side, but looked even. It was perfect.

"Could you do this?" He showed Rodrick the picture.

"Sure," he said lazily. Within a few seconds, Harry was spun around to face the mirror.

"It looks great!" Harry exclaimed. He ran his fingers through his short hair. It fell back into place perfectly. "It's just that..." Harry looked at his forehead. His lightning scar stood out more than ever. "People can see my scar more clearly."

"Well, that can be a good thing!" George said brightly. "Now everyone will know who you are when you walk down the street."

"Great," Harry said sarcasticly.

·~··~··~·

George's theory had been proven right. People walking down the streets of Hogsmeade pointed and whispered when they saw Harry.

"See? Everyone thinks you look so much better with that new haircut!" George grinned.

"No, I don't think it's the haircut," Harry said as a little girl pointed openly at his forehead and squealed 'Potter! Potter!'.

"Now, about those glasses," George looked at him sideways.

"No! No way! I can't see without my glasses!" Harry held to the edges of his specticals.

"Sure you can! All you need are some... contacts," George pleaded.

Harry sighed. Lots of kids wore contacts at Hogwarts. He had thought about getting them many times, since his glasses broke so often, but never thought he would get them just to get a girlfriend.

"Well, yeah, I guess," Harry said vaguely.

"Good! Here we are!" George stopped himself and Harry. Harry looked at the building they were outside of.

"'Edith's Eyewear'?" George, you led me here on purpose, didn't you?" Harry couldn't believe this!

"No time to chat now, Harry! Your new eyesight awaits you!" George pushed Harry throught the door into the bright shop.

Twenty minutes later, the boys emerged from the shop (hey, it's magic... it doesn't take that long). Harry held his glasses in his hand, yet he could see perfectly.

"Wow!" Harry said as he read signs across the street without having to squint. "This is great!"

"Yeah, now you just sit back and let her fall in love," George told Harry.

"I have a question, George. Why do you want me to get a girlfriend so badly? Wouldn't you rather be at Zonko's than shopping for contacts with me?" Harry asked.

"Well, duh!" George said. "I told you, I know a girl who fancies you and I'm just helping things out a bit."

"But it's just not your style to- " Harry began

"Whoah! Look at the time!" George looked at his wrist, even though he wasn't wearing a watch. "Gotta go! People to see! Things to do! Places to be!" He ran down the street. Harry watched him go. George was hiding something, no doubt about that. But what was he hiding?

·~··~··~·

By the time Harry returned to school, almost everyone was back from the village. He was very aware of the people pointing at him as he walking by, and even the brightened eyes of the girls he passed. But he didn't stay to bask in the glow of watchful eyes. He went straight to the Gryffindor common room. He didn't know why, but he was very anxious for Hermione to see his new looks more than anyone else. His heart pounded strangly as he gave the Fat Lady the password ("Polka-snots") and climbed into the room. He looked around for his friend- no, friends... he was looking for Ron, too, he reminded himself.

He saw Ron and Hermione sitting by the fire together, talking. This wasn't so odd, they had done it millions of times before, but it bothered Harry for some reason.

Harry walked over and cleared his throat. Their heads turned and their expressions changes instantly.

Ron's eyes widened and he turned all the way around to get a better look at Harry. "Whoah!" he said. Hermione just looked Harry up and down and gaped.

Harry smiled. "What do you think?"

Hermione smiled with her mouth still open. Then she stood up. "You look great!" she said both quietly and amazed.

"What did you do with your glasses?" Ron asked.

"Nothing, see?" Harry held out his old glasses. "I got some contacts instead."

Ron's eyebrows rised at this comment. The last thing Harry expected him to say came out of his mouth. "Why?"

Harry furrowed his brow. "What do you mean, 'why'? Because I wanted to!" _Well, George wanted me to. Close enough,_ he thought.

"You never used to care before," Hermione said skeptically.

"Well, people make changes!" Harry smiled. Then he went up to the dormitory.

For some reason, he didn't want to tell Hermione that George wanted to get him a girlfriend. He tried to figure out why not, and he was scared to think of the reason.

Stupid? I know... but I haven't had a lot of time to work on my stories. Please forgive me. By the way, I found the Snape Sucker story I was looking for. Thanks to Angelfall for that E-mail and Weasley Gurl. I can finally sleep soundly at night... anyway, I'll try to upload more chapters after Christmas break. Thanks for the reviews! 

-Q,A?


	4. Midnight Magic

Midnight Magic

Hermione had a very strange dream that night. She was walking through a forest, but there was no ground to support her. Instead, she was simply floating through dense, white fog. At first she was confused about why she was there. Then she heard a boy's voice calling her name. Suddenly she didn't care why she was in a strange forest; all she cared about was finding that voice. The way it called for her melted her heart. She wanted to be with that voice and the boy it was attached to. As she weaved through thick trees, she saw the person. She couldn't reconize him through the fog, but she knew she had seen him before. She could tell he was very familiar, but still couldn't figure out who it was. She raced towards him, his arms stretched wide to catch her. But then she fell through the air. She fell and fell and kept on falling. Her heart almost stopped untill she bolted upright in her bed, gasping and shaking. Rubbing her eyes, she looked around. It was only a dream. She was relieved to find she wasn't actually falling, but she wanted to hear that voice again. She wanted to be with that voice. 

She saw Crookshanks asleep on the nightstand that held the water jug. She didn't like Crookshanks to sleep on there. Once Lavender got up in the middle of the night for a glass of water, and it ended up as a disaster. She was half-sleeping, so she went to grab the handle and ended up grabbing Crookshanks by the tail, and the result was ear-splitting howls and screams of the five girls. From then on Hermione's cat slept in her bed.

Hermione swung her legs over the sides of her bed and stretched. Then she walked over to pick up Crookshanks. She happened to glance out the window into the strangly bright, moon-lit grounds. She did a double-take of what she saw. Standing by the lake was a figure. The person's back was facing her window, but Hermione knew who it was judging by the fire-red hair and maroon robe with a large "R" on the back. What was Ron doing outside so late?

Hermione hesitated. She couldn't go out onto the grounds at this hour! It was 2 in the morning! But then she thought of Ron. What was so wrong that he had the urge to go outside in his bathrobe? Hermione made up her mind and grabbed her own robe and a cloak.

Within five minutes, Hermione had run out of the castle silently and was walking around the grounds towards Ron. He must have heard her footsteps, because he turned around to face her.

"What are you doing her?" he demanded.

"I'd like to know the same thing! I saw you out of my window, so I came down," Hermione said.

"Well, I just..." Ron hesitated. "Couldn't sleep," he said finally.

"Why? What's wrong?"

Ron just stood for a few seconds. Then he shook his head. "I don't know."

"Maybe it's some kind of sickness. Here, look at me. I want to see if your eyes are blood-shot."

Ron turned his face to her. Hermione stared back into those pale, shining eyes. She and Ron never looked at each other like this. Hermione had never seen that depth, that sparkle in his eyes before. She forgot about Ron's insomnia for a minute and just gazed into his eyes, enjoying the moment. She didn't want him to look away.

Ron's eyes widened in an annoyed sort of way. "Well?" he said as he leaned closer. This wasn't a romantic moment. This was the exact opposite. Ron's impatient voice and troubled face told Hermione that he hadn't seen the same thing in her eyes.

"Nothing. I didn't see anything," Hermione said about both his blotchiness and kindness in those pupils.

"So I'm not sick?"

"Not as far as I can tell. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey tomorrow just to be safe, though," Hermione said. She forced herself to forget about those eyes. Her heart still wanted to look at their depth, or at least it probably did. She didn't know for sure because her brain overpowered her heart and said no.

·~··~··~·

Fred sat by the open window with his eyes wide and his chin cupped in his hands. He wasn't dreaming; he figured that out when he tripped over his trunk and nearly broke his leg. Luckily no one woke when his shrieks of pain escaped. Now the accident was forgotten as he smiled down at his brother and Hermione. He, of course, couldn't hear a word they were saying, but when he saw them looking at each other like that, there was no doubt they were in love. He guessed one thought led to another and soon they couldn't stop thinking about each other, which led to wanting to be together, which led to midnight strolls by the lake, which would lead to Fred winning that little bet with George. Fred could have squealed with joy! Of course he didn't. What if the others woke up to Fred Weasley, the rebel, the dare devil, dancing around and squealing happily about something as dumb as this? So instead he just kept watching as the two made their way back up the the castle, walking very close together and chatting. 

The only thing bugging Fred was Harry. He had to admit, George had done a very good job giving Harry a new style, and, yes, the new groomed Harry looked very handsome compared to the gawky, red-haired Ron. Fred was actually amazed Ron and Hermione had become this close. But then again, that night on the couch together must have sparked something. Yup, this was going to be a close race, all right.

·~··~··~·

Ron and Hermione climbed into the portrait hole together. Hermione wasn't tired any more, for some reason. She liked being alone with Ron for once. It gave them a chance to talk more and not be interrupted by teachers or friends.

"Are you tired yet?" she asked Ron.

"No," he answered. 

"I really think you should see Madame Pomfrey. Loosing sleep like this isn't good for you!" she knew she was right, that Ron really should get to bed, but she wanted him to stay. But once again, her brain's own voice drowned out her heart. 

"Maybe I should just try to rest. I'll see you in the morning, Hermy," he turned to his dormitory. For some reason, it bugged Hermione less when Ron called her Hermy. It sounded almost sweet. No, no, it didn't sound sweet at all. It was annoying! Just like when Fred called her that... annoying!

Hermione looked into the small blueish fire with her mind wandering freely. She snapped back to attention a few minutes later when she leard a familiar voice.

"Ron?" she heard Harry call from the dark stairs. "Ron? Are you in here?" He came into the room and looked around, then spotted Hermione.

"Oh! Hermione!" Harry said, both shocked and embarrassed. He had come down in a Chudley Cannon shirt and blue and black boxers with a navy robe on his back but not tied in front. He quickly pulled the robe on tighter and tied it, hiding his sleepwear.

"I'm- I'm sorry! I didn't know you were down. I was just looking for Ron," Harry said. His face was so red Hermione could even tell in the dark room.

Hermione giggled a little. "That's okay. But-" she frowned. "I thought Ron just went up to bed? I just saw him a minute ago!"

Harry raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "No. I didn't see him."

"Oh. That's weird," Hermione asked in a puzzled voice. A short silence followed when the friends looked at each other in their robes. This was a very akward moment.

"What were you two doing down here anyway?" Harry questioned.

"It was a very weird situation. You see, I saw Ron outside from my window, so I went down to see what was wrong. Apparently he can't sleep. We walked back up together, then he just went to bed. Or at least he should have went to bed. That's very strange." Hermione explained.

"Oh. I see," Harry said. "I wonder why Ron can't sleep."

"Me too."

"Well, I'll be going up to bed," Harry said, rocking back and forth on his heals.

"Right. Me too," Hermione decided.

"After you," Harry smiled as they reached the stairs at the same time.

Hermione giggled a thank-you and started up the stairs. She hadn't taken one step when she tripped on her long cloak and almost fell down the stairs. Very luckily, Harry stepped forward to catch her before hitting to ground.

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione as she leaned back in Harry's arms and looked into his eyes. She saw something she had never seen in them before. It was the same thing that was in Ron's eyes, too! A certain sparkle... a depth. The only difference was that Harry returned her gaze.

"No problem," he breathed quietly. His voice was different, too- magical and quiet.

They stood like this for a minute, slowly drawing close together in a very unrealistic way. They were maybe 2 inches apart when a loud snore from the boy's dormitory broke the silence. Harry blinked and put Hemrione back down.

"Right," Hermione said as she straightened her robe.

"Er, yeah," Harry said as he blushed a bright pink.

"So," Hermione said as she twisted her sleeve. "Good night. See you tomorrow."

"Good night!" Harry called as he hurried out the stairs. He seemed so embarrassed that he wanted to get away as quickly as possible.

·~··~··~·

Harry hurried up the stairs and stopped outside the door, but didn't go in. Instead, he leaned his head against the wall and breathed deeply, his eyes closed. Now that he thought about it, he was never happier to hear Neville snore. What would have happened if they didn't stop? He shook his head and turned, only to see Ron sitting against the wall, too, a few feet away. He was looking at something, but quickly hid it when he sensed Harry's gaze.

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," Ron said. "What just happened? It looks like you were being chased by Fluffy," Ron said as he stood up. 

"Oh. Erm... I was," Harry bit his tongue. Stupid, stupid, stupid! "I mean, I... well... nothing... nothing," he reached for the door knob, but Ron held his wrist back.

"It wasn't nothing!" Ron said with a piercing look. "What was it? You can tell me!"

"Tell me what you were looking at then," Harry said cleverly.

"That? That was nothing!" Ron turned red.

"Then show me," Harry urged.

"No!" Ron sighed. "All right. You don't have to tell if I don't have to. All right?"

"Okay," Harry said with his eyebrows raised.

"Fine then," Ron said rather formally.

"Fine."

Harry opened the door, still looking at Ron, then disappeared into the darkness. Ron stayed for a second outside. He took that thing he was looking at from out of his pocket. He took one last look, smiling at the picture of him and Hermione on the couch from a few nights ago, before going to bed.

You like? I think I'm making it seem like Hermione is too attracted to Ron. Hmmm... suggestions welcome. Plus I honestly don't know how it's going to end, so I'll be having a little poll; Harry or Ron? I'll try to have a sappy ending, unlike Truth or Dare. I'm expecting to be burned sooner or later; I have to admit, that ending was dreadful. Oh well... review, please!!!

-QA


	5. Falling for You

Falling for You

George looked around the Great Hall. He grinned as he saw his twin sitting by himself (for once he wasn't with Lee Jordon, who had foolishly accepted one of their experimental Combustable Crisps and was in the hospital wing having his ears reattached). George walked over with a business like expression and sat next to his brother.

"Seen Harry lately?" George asked, trying- and failing horribly- to sound innocent as he helped himself to potatoes.

"Might have caught a glimpse," Fred shrugged. 

"Did a good job on his appearence, did I not?" George boasted.

Fred turned sideways to look his brother straight in the eye. "Yeah, but you didn't see what happened last night, did you?" he hissed.

"What?" George demanded, dropping his matter-of-fact attitude.

Fred grinned and shrugged again. "Nothing," he said airily.

"Come on! Tell me!" George pounded his fist on the table.

Fred was bursting to tell, anyway. "I saw Hermione and freckles out by the lake late last night... very late... a bit of midnight magic, if you ask me,"

George was burning up. "So? That doesn't mean anything."

"Well, she doesn't seem to be all over Harry like you predicted, ol' brother." He jerked his head towards the end of the table. It was true. Hermione and Harry were keeping their distance. Apparently they were both extremely embarrassed about what happened the night before.

George couldn't think of anything to say. He looked at his watch. "Quidditch practice," he said firmly, changing the subject.

Fred bit his lip. "Okay. I'm coming."

The twins slouched out the hall onto the fields, broomsticks over their shoulders.

George yawned and kicked off from the ground. He looped the field a few times to let the cold rushing air wake him up. When he landed, he saw Harry had appeared on the field, too, stretching and yawning and looking like a lovably teddy bear. Or at least, that's what he hoped he looked like to Hermione, who had just arrived to sit on the sidelines.

"That's weird. Hermione never watches the practices," Fred whispered as he inched by on his broom.

George grinned. "Maybe she came to watch the famous Harry Potter."

Fred narrowed his eyes and took off so sharply that a gust of wind blew George almost off his feet.

"Morning, George," Harry smiled. He had become more friendly towards George since the last Hogsmeade visit. Harry was obviously pleased with his makeover.

"Morning," George responded. They both took off and weaved in and out of the goal posts. George noticed Hermione looking up from her text books more than usual just to watch Harry. George couldn't have been more pleased.

"Seems like Hermione can't take her eyes off you, Harry," George smiled as they passed in mid-air.

"What?" Harry said, distracted. He paid dearly for his lack of concentration. A bludger wizzed passed his ear, and Harry had to turn upside down on his broom to avoid it. Hermione actually stood up and gaped at Harry to make sure he was all right. She only sat back down when Harry was safely sitting back on his broom. 

"Hmmm..." George whispered to himself. His mischeivous mind put two and two together, and soon he hatched a plan.

Ten minutes later, the rest of the team had come onto the dew covered grass, accompanied by a few spectators, as well. Seamus and Dean were there, apparently having nothing better to do. Madame Hooch also was present. She often was there watching the teams practice, occasionally making suggestions. Ron was the fourth one. He blushed when he saw Hermione there, but looked pleased. Fred looked very happy about this.

"Okay, team," Katie Bell said to the Gryffindors. "Let's try out those new moves. George, that new looping technique looks good, but Angelina, watch out for your blocking moves. Everyone ready? Let's go!"

Seven brooms rose into the air. Six of the team members instantly began chasing the balls around, but Harry squinted here and there, looking for the snitch.

George sighed. "Harry, I'm _really_ sorry about this," he whispered. He took his wand out of his sleeve and muttered a simple spell. Soon, Harry's broom began to vibrate, and soon he was hanging on by one arm.

The watchers below as well as the team gasped and focused on Harry and his very oddly behaving broom. George bit his lip. "Oh, forgive me, Harry," he whispered. A final flick of his wand, and Harry was thrown inot the air and landed forty-five feet below with a soft thud.

Everyone crowded around Harry.

"Is he okay?"

"What happened?"

"Can you hear us, Harry?"

Harry groaned. He looked up to the panicking crowd. He coughed and tasted blood in his mouth. He tried to wipe his chin with his sleeve, but his arm didn't work. He was too afraid to look.

"I can't move my arm," he said faintly.

Some gasped.

"Harry!" Hermione pushed through the crowd. Her face was stained with tears and she bit her fingers.

"Take him to the hospital wing," Madame Hooch said.

Hermione instantly knelt down and put Harry's good arm around her shoulder. Ron pushed him up by his back and soon the three walked up to the castle.

When they entered the hospital wing, Harry was helped into a bed, then Ron rushed off to find Madame Pomfrey.

"Oh, Harry. Does it hurt much? Do you think you'll be okay? What do you think was wrong with your broom? Was it cursed? Did you break your legs, too? Did you-" Hermione rambled on rather quickly. She was worried out of her mind.

Ron returned with Madame Pomfrey. She bend over to inspect Harry's arm carfully.

"Hmmm..." she muttered. "Just a broken arm, plus a twisted ankle," she said with a tone as if she were saying, "Just a tummy ache. I'm surprised you came down here at all!" After all, this was Hogwarts; a forty-five foot drop from a posessed broom? What else is new?

"I'll have you fixed up in a moment, Potter. Just have to find the right potion," she said as she left the three alone.

Hermione continued to ramble. "Will you be alright? Does everything look fuzzy? Does your head hurt?"

"Gee, Hermione. He just broke his arm and twisted a foot. It's not a huge deal!" Ron shook his head.

Hermione looked furious. "What an awful thing to say! Harry almost plunged to his death and you think it's no big deal? What is wrong with you?"

"Hermione, he'll be fine! Madame Pomfrey must mend five bones a day! Harry'll be good as new in a minute, right Harry?" Ron said honestly. Harry agreed whole heartedly with Ron.

"I can't believe you! Show some sympathy!" Hermione raged.

Ron tightened to corners of his lips and narrowed his eyes; a sign he was very angry. "Fine. I'll just leave, since I apparently don't care about Harry when he's on his... er, _deathbed_," Ron said sarcasticly. he stormed out of the room.

"Hermione, he's right. I'll be fine. It's really not a big-" Harry began, but he was interrupted when Hermione threw her arms around him and cried, "Oh, Harry... I hope you'll be okay!"

She stood up very suddenly. "I'm sorry! Did I hurt you? Oh, I'm so careless!" She stomped her foot on the ground and ran from the hospital wing, sobbing.

Harry watched her go with his mouth open and his eyebrows up. Why was she so upset? And why had she _hugged_ him? It was so unlike her to become all sensative when something like this happened. Sure, she would be very worried and even panick a little, but not to that extent! Maybe it had something to so with last night...

Harry shook his head roughly. No, he must not think about things that way. Just forget about the night before. He could have even been dreaming, anyway. But it couldn't have been a dream. The way they were coming together was definatly real... and even a bit scary.

Madame Pomfrey returned with a icy goblet and her wand in hand. After drinking down the numbingly cold potion, Harry couldn't feel the pain in his arm at all. Then the nurse whispered a few words and his arm, which was sticking out oddly, straightened. Harry tried moving it. It worked! Ron was right; this was a piece of cake.

Madame Pomfrey suggested Harry spend a few more hours in bed, just to be safe. Harry didn't mind. He wasn't really keen on seeing Hermione right away and having her fuss over him. 

While Harry was settling into bed, the quidditch team came in. Every one looked a bit worried. After many "Feel better"s and "See you around"s, the Gryffindors left. George stayed behind, however.

"Where did Ron and Hermione go?" he asked.

"Not sure," Harry said. "But I'm sort of glad. Hermione wouldn't stop worrying about me! You should have seen her! Crying and fussing and-" Harry stopped. He didn't want George to know she had hugged him.

"Oh. I wonder what's up with that," George said absentmindedly. Truthfully, he couldn't have been happier. This was just the affect he was looking for. _Yes! No way Hermione can resist Harry Potter, the brave little hero, now!_

·~··~··~·

George whistled a tune as he made his way back to the common room. Things were definatly going his way. He was just upset they hadn't gambled more money!

George hummed merrily when suddenly a hand yanked the back of his shirt collar. Gasping for breath, he saw Fred behind a statue with a savage face, crossed arms, and a tapping foot.

"Did you have to choke me? A simple, 'Hey George' would have done just fine," George said as he rubbed his neck.

"Are you crazy? Harry could have really been hurt!" Fred hissed.

"What makes you think _I_ had anything to do with that?" George asked with his brow furrowed.

"Oh, come off it. The way you were smirking... you would have thought Christmas had come early by the look on your face! Now I'll have to come up with some amazing stunt to compete with-"

"Ahah!" George cried. "You don't care about Harry! You just don't want to loose!"

"NO! I care about Harry's safety just as much as this bet!" 

George snorted.

"Well, still... you shouldn't be chucking him off brooms!" Fred confessed.

"That's the game," George said matter-of-factly.

Fred gritted his teeth. "Fine. You want to play dirty? We'll play dirty. Oh, you'll be sorry, though. You have no idea what a brilliant mind like mine can come up with!"

Unfortunatly, _my_ brilliant mind is out of ideas. Suggestions welcome, as always. Now I better post this soon, or I'll forget about it and not have it up for a week (like I did with some previous chapters- sorry :). Can't think of anything more to say here. Bye, now!

-QA


	6. The Potion

The Potion

Fred ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Above his head he held his wand with a beam of light arising from the end. He stood up on tiptoe, moving jars of pickled fruit bats and elf intestines. It was so hard to find what he was looking for in this dark and dusty cupboard! Then he found it in the very back of a high shelf- dried apple tree roots. He put his wand in his mouth and tried to reach the jar without tipping anything over. He stood on an upturned bucket and gripped the edge with his fingers, but still couldn't reach. He sighed and put his hands down. Taking his wand from his mouth, he looked at it as if he just realized it was there. What an idiot!

"_Accio apple tree root!"_ he whispered. The glass jar hovered into the air and landed in Fred's open hands. 

He took a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. Looking it over, he smiled approvingly and tucked it away again. He had just snagged the last ingredient for a simple, yet affective love potion. The reason he was gathering things at night was because love potions were obviously banned at Hogwarts. Well, not to him they weren't. Especially now. He needed a powerful weapon to come off in the better end of this bet. Just a shot of this in Ron's morning pumpkin juice and Fred's problems were solved. Why hadn't he thought of this before?

Fred silently crept down the halls into his secret hiding- rather, secret brewing- place, which happened to be a room on the fourth floor that was completely invisible. The only reason he knew about it was because of the Maurder's Map. It was the perfect hide out for something so risky. 

He felt along the wall for a rusty door knob. He found it quickly and opened the door. Already bubbling on an open fire was a small couldron full of a purple liquid. Fred added his last ingredient, which turned it into a clear potion, about the same thickness as milk. Ron would never know he was under the powers of a love potion.

_Finished_, he thought as stirred the liquid and tapped the spoon against the rim to get all of the excess off. _Now just slip some to Ronniekins, sit back, and watch the magic happen._

·~··~··~·

It was a very tricky procedure. Like surgery. A life or death situation. Some how, Fred was going to pour a small vial full of potion into Ron's goblet without him looking. Fred had been going over the plan all morning. He just might be able to pull it off if all went well. First, he placed a small firework under the Slytherin table. He had enchanted it so it would spark at exactly the right time. Then, when Ron would look over to see what was happening, Fred would lean over the table and pretend to be paying attention to what was happening, too. Then he would pull the vial out of his sleeve and pour it quickly into Ron's juice. It might work. Fred could do it... he hoped.

Surprisingly, everything was going to plan so far. Everyone was even in the perfect seats! Ron, Hermione, Harry, and George were on the side of the table closest to Slytherin, while Ginny was on the end and Fred on one side all by himself. The firework went off, as planned, and even succeded in sparking the end of Malfoy's robes (even though 

Fred hadn't expected that to happen). While everyone was distracted, Fred slyly tipped the contents of the vial into the cup. When the chaos had subsided, Fred sighed with relief while watching Ron take a sip of juice.

Ron scrunched up his nose and put down his goblet. "This tastes funny," he remarked.

Oh no! Fred had never even considered the way it tasted! But it didn't really matter; Ron had already consumed the potion, which was all that mattered.

"Here, let me taste it," Harry reached over Hermione's plate for Ron's glass.

Fred froze. _No!_ he thought._ Stop! Put down the goblet! Oh, please, don't drink... don't drink!_

Too late. Harry took a long gulp of the pumpkin juice- and the love potion.

"You're right. It _does _taste odd." Harry put down the goblet.

"You taste it, Fred," Ron suggested.

Fred cleverly tipped it over while reaching. The last thing he needed was _himself_ to be falling in love with Hermione. He had already messed things up enough this morning.

It's a really short chapter, but I can't think of what else to write. Thanks to all who reviewed so far. The poll is Harry=15 and Ron=19. I still don't know how this will end...

By the way, I noticed that Fanfiction doesn't include certain characters in user's names. So just to clear things up, my name isn't Quidditch Anyone; it's supposed to be Quidditch, Anyone? I know I'm being ridiculous, but that just was bugging me. Okey-dokey, I'm done.

-Q,A?


	7. When Spells Go Wrong

When Spells Go Wrong

Harry looked at his watch. He had better get ready for class soon. 

"We should get going," He told Hermione and Ron.

"Right," Hermione agreed. She took one last bite of toast and stood up. 

Ron apparently hadn't heard Harry. He was looking over his shoulder and was practically drooling.

"Ron?" Harry asked.

"Uh?" Ron responded. He was still staring. Hermione followed his gaze to a pretty 6th year at the Ravenclaw table.

"Why are you staring at her?" Hermione snapped with her hands on her hips.

"What? Oh... Hermione... yeah, just a second." Ron faced her briefly, then went back to staring.

"He is so pathetic," Hermione whispered loudly to Harry. She fixed her bright, beautiful eyes back on Ron. "When you're done acting like an idiot, we'll be in Herbology."

"Fine, I'm coming," Ron said, irritated.

They walked out across the grounds together. Along the way they passed some Ravenclaws going to Care of Magical Creatures. Cho Chang near the end of the crowd. Harry saw her and blushed brighter than he ever had.

"I like your haircut," she said to Harry as she passed.

"Er... umm... thanks!" Harry said back. He waved patheticly as she retreated and managed to drop his books on the dewy grass.

Ron snorted, but Harry didn't notice.

"Did you see that? She talked to me! She really _talked_ to me!" He said, stunned. Then he looked back at his friends, who couldn't keep a straight face, and came to his sensed.

"I-I mean... er... that was nice of her." Harry tried to cover up his mistake unsuccessfully while picking up what he dropped.

Ron stopped laughing, but that was only because among the crowd he spotted the pretty girl who he was staring at over breakfast.

"I think Ron is in _love_," Harry smirked.

Hermione's stomach got a strange knot in it. Ron in love? With _that_ piece of filth?

"Oh, shut up," Ron said. His ears were burning.

They entered the greenhouses without another word. Harry had a very glazed look about him and Ron kept looking over his shoulder as if the girl was following him. Hermione rolled her eyes, but she also felt very strange. Why were they suddenly drooling over these girls? They weren't all that special. Just because their hair was straight and their faces were perfect and always smiled like idiots. That didn't make them anything great. Did it? Hermione took a strand of her own hair and looked at it. It was frizzy and tangled and a an ugly, mousy brown.

Hermione suddenly thought about what she was doing. What did she care what she looked like? And why should she care that Ron and Harry cared? She didn't, right?

Well, maybe...

·~··~··~·

The last few minutes of class seemed like hours to Ron and Harry. Ron tapped his foot impatiently and Harry tapped his quill on his books. They both checked their watches every 3 seconds. Tap, check, tap, check, tap, check...

Hermione couldn't stand it. It was clear why they were so impatient; they both wanted to "bond" with those Ravenclaw girls. They were completely forgetting her. Those stupid, ignorant, shallow...

The bell rang and the boys shot out of the room.

"Sure, don't wait for me! I'll be fine all alone," Hermione called after them. Of course, they didn't hear her. She sighed at gathered her things. She walked out the door and slumped across the grounds. Not far ahead she saw Harry and Ron talking with the Ravenclaw girls. Harry was limping slightly. Funny, he didn't still have that limp while running to catch up with Cho. 

__

I guess seeing a pretty girl makes you remember how much of a quidditch hero you are, _doesn't it Harry? _Hermione thought.

She entered the castle and immediatly saw Lavender.

"Hi, Hermione," Lavender said as Hermione passed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Hermione gloomily.

Fred just happened to be walking by, but doubled-back to secretly catch what was going on.

"Oh, come on. I can tell something's wrong. Tell me. I promise you'll feel better," Lavender coaxed.

"Well," Hermione hesitated. "It's just that... Ron and Harry went running after some glittery, fake-faced girls and left me all alone."

"Oooh," Lavender smiled as if Hermione was giving a hint about something. "I get it. And you're upset because they don't seem so in love with you now."

"No! Are you crazy? That's not it at all! Completely missed the point," Hermione stormed off.

Fred cursed quietly. That idiot! Ron was supposed to fall in love with Hermione, not anyone else! Now he just made things ten times worse, when he was just trying to help. All he wanted was Hermione and Ron would fall in love by magic and Harry would be out of the picture; was that so much to ask? Why was fate against Fred?

·~··~··~·

Hermione ran off to the girls' bathroom. Her face felt red and puffy, like she would cry. She would just stay in here for a second until her face looked normal again, but as soon as she walked in she began to sob. Oh, why was Hermione being so emotional? She was never like this. Hermione walked into a stall and put the seat down on the toilet so she could sit down. She put her face in her hands and breathed deeply. The worst thing was she wasn't sure why she was crying. It didn't matter if Harry and Ron were attracted to girls. She was sure they wouldn't mind if she liked some boy. But at least _she_ wouldn't run out on them just to chase some guy. They were sometimes just so rude!

While pondering these thoughts, Hermione heard a few pairs of feet walk in. She peered through the crack between the door and the wall. Cho, the Oh-so-pretty-I-just-have-to-drool-over-her girl Ron liked**, **and a few others were there, checking their hair and giggling.

"Oh, he looks_ so _good with that hair and no glasses!" Cho was saying. "I mean, at first he was cute, but now he is just_ adorable!_"

Hermione almost gagged. How could anyone like girls like these?

"And his eyes!" Cho continued.

The rest of the girls groaned longingly.

"They're so stunning! I mean, how can you get much cuter than green eyes?"

_Well, guess who he was looking at with those eyes at midnight just a few short nights ago? _Hermione thought. _If he looked at you like that, which he never will, I'm sure you'll just die, won't you?_

Hermione wanted to scream. Why was she thinking about Harry like that? Was she jealous? No, no... she wasn't. Of course not. But why did she want to go punch that girl Ron liked in the face? Why was she hiding in the bathroom, crying? Why? Why? WHY?

Hermione pulled at her hair at bit her tongue. With shaking hands, she reached for her wand She pointed it under the door, right next to the end of the pretty girl's robes. Hermione whispered a spell and soon the girl's robes were on fire. 

"Rachel, your robes!" a girl shreaked. Soon they were all screaming and trying to stomp out the fire.

Hermione couldn't help but giggle as she crept out unnoticed and ran off to her next class.


	8. Clues

Clues

The good news was that the love potion only lasted three hours. The bad news was during those three hours, Ron and Harry acted like complete idiots. They were always drooling over the girls and waving like crazy and blushed so much they resembled tomatoes. Then it all stopped as the potion wore off. They were right in the middle of talking to the girls when they realized, "What are we doing?". They both departed and went back to the Great Hall for lunch. They sank into chairs across from Hermione.

"Where are your girlfriends?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes.

Ron sighed and Harry blushed.

"Sorry," Harry muttered. "We shouldn't have ignored you like that. We don't know what came over us."

Hermione was burning up, but just continued to eat with shaking hands.

"You know what, Harry?" Ron asked with bright eyes. "I reckon we might have been... you know... under a love potion or something."

"That's crazy!" Harry said. Then he thought, "Actually, you could be right! The symptoms are all there. It wore off so suddenly, and-"

"OH, SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Hermione burst out. "YOU'RE SUCH IDIOTS! I CAN'T STAND YOU! YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY!"

She shook with rage, then threw the contents of her goblet at the two of them. Why did they drive her nuts? Unable to stay with them any longer, she ran out of the Great Hall.

She ran across the halls, past classrooms, up flights of stairs- just kept running, running, running. But what was she running from? Harry and Ron? Her best friends? Why was she so mad at them? 

When Hermione found the need to catch her breath and wipe her tears, she realized that she had no idea where she was. No pictures or passages or doors looked familiar, so she wandered around looking for some sign of anything that would lead her back to the Common Room. The last thing she expected was to bump into- thin air?

Rubbing her head, Hermione looked around for a solid object that was apparently in her way. Puzzled by seeing nothing, she resorted to waving her arms, trying to hit that... whatever it was... again. At last she felt a smooth verticle surface, and at last a knob.

_What in the name of..._ Hermione turned the invisible knob, not really knowing what to expect. Well, whatever it was, it wasn't a giant room with an abandoned cauldron in the middle, but that was exactly what was in there. 

She felt the cauldron, not being stupid enough to stick her hand in an unidentified magical liquid. It was stone cold. How odd...

Hermione looked around (though who would be spying on her in a completely transparent room?), then took an emtly bottle of ink out of her bag. After using a quick cleaning potion to get rid of the last of the ink, she filled it up halfway with the potion and slipped it back into her bag. Now what? _Well, I guess I won't find many more clues here. Time to go back to my friends... oh what, I DON'T HAVE ANY, _Hermione thought angrily.

·~··~··~·

No one saw Hermione for the remainder of the day. After drying off, Harry and Ron thought it was best to not search for her, not unless they wanted dinner thrown at themselves as well. What would happen, they predicted, was that she would return after cooling off and everything would be sorted out one way or another. Hopefully.

Hermione immediately knew she had to analyze the substance. Being the genius, top-grade student she was, she knew exactly what books she would need from the library and the tools. So in a matter of hours, Hermione's own personal 'lab' was set up in the invisible room, ready to detect what sort of potion she stumbled upon.

"Now all I need is that last spell," Hermione whispered to herself while leafing through a heavy textbook. "Found it!" Her finger scanned down the worn paper and tapped the printed words she was looking for. "Spellarumbia!" she said while the tip of her wand pointed to the tiny bottle of potion. Like a vacuum, her wand sucked up the liquid without leaving a drop. For a minute her wand felt warm and it squirmed slightly. For once, Hermione wasn't sure if her spell would actually work. Then out of the tip of her wand popped a tiny slip of paper. In the smallest writing was written the name of the potion. It had worked! Now to find out what sort of potion 'Temporary Allurement Serum' was.

_Probably some illegal substance,_ she thought while looking through a large book of potions. _Dumbledore should be informed of this promptly. As soon as I find it, I'll go straight up to-_ it was then she found it; 

_ _

Temporary Allurement Serum, The- a simple love potion composed of mainly dutch-grown lily stems, apple tree root, pig sweat, and feces of the leopard gecko. When consumed in its traditional clear liquid form, the drinker will experience unexpected attractions towards a member of the opposite sex. However, the potion will not reveal a person's true love for someone and has a reputation of disrupting a person's true emotional thoughts.

So this wasn't some dangerous potion that could possibly control the minds of everyone at Hogwarts, as Hermione was half expecting. Instead some airhead secretly made a love potion and was more than likely doing more harm than good. It didn't occur to her that this particular airhead was harming _her_ until after she cleared the room and was heading down the hall. Hermione stopped in her tracks as her mind clicked. Ron and Harry both thought Ron's goblet of orange juice tasted funny this morning, though Hermione's was fine. Then the two boys became obsessed with two girls they barely knew. Just as suddenly, they came to their sensed. Stupid Hermione! Ron and Harry _really had_ been under a love potion the whole time!

Hermione turned 180 degrees and ran back to the room. Just maybe she could find a few clues which would lead her to find the maker of the potion. Unfortunately, finding an invisible room for the third time in an incredibly vast castle with changing rooms and passages wasn't all that easy. The only way Hermione was going to find out who was playing cupid was to pick up hints elsewhere.

I know I haven't been updating in a while, and I'm sorry. I'll try to finish the story soon now that it's going somewhere. Suggestions welcome, as always. Now it will just be another 4 months for me to upload chapter nine (just kidding).

-QA


	9. The True Discovery

The True Discovery

Hermione was very tempted to tell Harry and Ron about the secret love potion, mainly because the look on their faces when they found out they had consumed gecko feces and pig sweat would be priceless. However, that would mean admitting that they had been right after all and that she overreacted. Therefore the secret room and secret potion would remain... well, secret. But at least one good thing came out of Hermione's discovery; she appologized to Harry and Ron, and of course was forgiven. It seemed the only thing that was still bugging her was who was sabotaging her friends.

·~··~··~·

Hermione swung her bag around her shoulder while walking back from Arithmacy, heading for the Common Room. She hummed slightly down the corridors until she heard faint voices coming from behind a statue of Oswald the Odd, near the boys' bathroom. Her curiousity got the better of her when she realized the voices were that of Fred and George.

"Time for the latest updates, Fred," said what must have been George. "Whatever your 'brilliant scheme' was, it didn't seem to do either of us very good, now, has it?"

"What makes you think I've already made my move?" came the sly voice of Fred.

"I'm not totally stupid, Fred. I saw how Harry and Ron were acting around those Ravenclaws. And in case you haven't notice, nitwit, Hermione wasn't included in this equation at all! What did you pull this time?"

Hermione almost dropped her books in astonishment. Luckily she caught them, but that didn't stop her jaw from dropping to the floor. _What on earth was going on here?_

"All right, all right!" Fred snapped. "So I made one mistake. How was I supposed to know it would turn this ugly?" 

George sighed audibly. "At least tell me exactly what idiotic stunt you pulled, so I won't do the exact same thing." 

"Okay," Fred began. "You know that invisible room on the fourth floor?"

As you would expect, Hermione's fingers were gripping the statue with all her strength and was hanging on the every syllable.

"The one where we hid that belching toilet we made in our second year?"

"Yeah, that one. Anyway, I sort of, er... m-" Fred's voice faded with every word.

"What?" George asked desperately. Hermione, though didn't speak, mouthed the exact thing, although she could foresee- though not believe- what was coming. 

"I made a love potion, all right?!?!" Fred almost shouted.

"Shhh!!!" George hissed.

Hermione gasped. She could only hope no one heard her. She held her breath for what seemed like forever, waiting for the sudden silence to pass.

Fred continued on very quickly, as if all in one breath. "It backfired big time. The morning the firecracker went off, I slipped the potion into Ron's juice, but then I guess it tasted odd, so then Harry took a sip and he was under the potion, too, so then neither of them really-"

"I can't believe you, Fred. This is the lowest, worst thing you could have ever-"

"You're just jealous you hadn't done it first!"

"Of course I'm not! I thought of it the very second we made this bloody bet! I just didn't do it because it was obviously the worst form of cheating you could have ever come up with!" George protested.

Hermione's head was spinning so fast she thought she might be sick. This was beyond logic! Beyond reason! Beyond any stupid stunt or trick the Weasley twins have ever come up with!

At last Fred declared, "All is fair in love and war... well, consider this a war of love! No limits to what came happen next! This time, the game is _really_ on!!!"

Joy.

-Q,A?


	10. Chapter

"The Bet Made in Heaven" by Quidditch, Anyone?

  


(Chapter That Seems Like A Lot Of Thought Was Put Into It, But Not Really)

  


Hermione ran wildly down the corridors, her bag swinging and banging against walls as she skidded the tight corners. Her hair repeatedly fell in her face and she was breathing harder than she ever had. Finally huge oak doors came closer and closer until she let herself fall into them, then found that at the last minute she had slammed directly into Draco. A harsh comment from him was simply followed by a, "Bugger off, Malfoy!" as she continued to run. This was _way_ more important than properly insulting Malfoy right now.

  


"Ron! _Rooon!_" she gasped. "I-I-I haff-have to tell you something."

  


Hermione couldn't help put lay her head on the table and breathe for a minute. She could feel Ron looking at her but didn't look to see his horrified expression. Like a starved old man, she weakly grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him closer. "This is _so_ important!"

  


Ron twisted his way free and backed away. "No," he whispered worriedly. She didn't take much notice.

  


"I... you... I want to tell you..." It was hopeless. She could barely mime an explanation with the amount of energy left in her.

  


"Hermione, I already know," Ron told her bluntly.

  


"You-you do?" she panted.

  


"Yes." He loudly dropped his fork and knife and made a movement as if he would leave. "And I would just like to tell you, I don't know _why_ you thought so, but I absolutely do _not_ like you." If her face was red from exhaustion, it didn't compare to his.

  


She still breathed and tried to take this in. "You... wait, WHAT?"

  


"Fred just told me everything. How you like me, how you told him because you thought I liked you back, and how even _he _thinks I've been... I've been," he gulped. "_Flirting_ with you all these years!"

  


"No... no, Ron, you don't understand!"

  


"I think I understand a lot more than you do," he scolded while heavily standing up from the table. "Hermione," he looked her sympathetically in the eye. "I like you, a lot, but just... not like that. I'm- I'm sorry." He turned away, his face screaming "guilt!" at the top of its lungs.

  


"Ron, you _don't understand!_" Hermione screamed. He didn't turn.

  


"Oh, bloody... geezum... God, almighty!" Finally she just pulled her hair to her mouth and screamed into her locks. It surprisingly deafened the hair-raising noise. Bloody oaf, Fred! Why couldn't she know all the secret passages, too? He must have gotten there in _half _the time it took her, then fed Ron some absurd story, trying to wrap this whole thing up and just win the damned bet. If his ugly redhaired face had still been in this room, Hermione would have beaten the life out of him, _then_ gone to work with her clever curses.

  


"Is everything all right, Hermione?" she heard Neville question. Her slightly teary face looked up. "I'm fine, Neville, thank you."

  


He sat down in Ron's spot and grabbed a roll from the basket. "Then why have you been crying?"

  


Curse Neville. Curse everyone, in fact. Why can't she just sit here for a minute and not be asked a million questions? _Why_ are all her friends so... urgh, _friendly_?

  


"I'm _fine_, Neville, and even if I wasn't, it really wouldn't be any of your business," she exploded. Poor Neville froze in mid-bite and watched her leave the Great Hall.

  


"Goodness, does _she_ ever need some counseling!" Neville whispered.

  


"Who needs what, Neville?" Harry asked. He absentmindedly sat while rubbing his old glasses with a handful of robes. Clearly, he had been too preoccupied with something to take notice of a thing that had just happened.

  


"Hermione," Neville turned to him. "She's acting a bit... touchy, I think."

  


"Really?" Harry asked as he replaced his glasses. "How so?"

  


"Just... I don't know," he shrugged vaguely in response. Harry turned slightly red, which he didn't do very often. 

  


"But if I had to guess, I'd say it had something to do with Ron."

  


Harry blushed slightly more and added, without looking at Neville of course, "You saw them fighting?"

  


"Well, not exactly... but I did remember seeing him leave, then all of a sudden her face was in her arms."

  


"Well, er... that's odd," Harry finished. The two boys started munching in silence for a bit before Neville (being the slow boy he is) noticed Harry's glasses.

  


When they were brought up, Harry just said, "I don't know... just want a change, I suppose."

  


"Well, good," said Neville. "Nothing personal, but you just weren't you without them."

  


Harry mixed his mashed potatoes with peas. The thing was, for a while now, Harry had sensed something odd going on at Hogwarts. No, not a Death Eater, and not a hidden chamber complete with a giant serpant... nope, this was still different. Different in that the solid rock of friendship among his best friends seemed to get a bit fuzzy. Not that they didn't like each other, of course not, but it just seemed... he wasn't sure, just_ odd_. That's why he had his glasses; he wanted to make every little thing at Hogwarts the same as it had always been, no matter how small it was.

  


But then again, maybe he was just imagining it. I mean, come one... it's not like someone was messing with his thoughts, or anyone else's, for that matter.

  


·~··~··~·

  


Harry made his way to the Common Room. He was quite anxious to see his friends and find out what was wrong. Maybe this all was part of something he didn't even know about. He tried not to broad on this, as it just made him more confused.

  


Without warning, a considerably strong arm (like that of a Beater) hooked him around his waist as a equally brawny hand covered his mouth. Harry was savagely pulled nearly off his feet while being dragged into an empty broom cupboard.

  


When Harry was finally released in the eerily dark closet, the first noise he hurt was the door being closed- and locked. He expected to find Malfoy or Goyle, or someone... worse, but instead found-

  


"_George_?"

  


George had his wand raised to Harry's face and looked grim.

  


"George, what in the name of Merlin do you think you're doing?" Harry whispered.

  


"Harry, I'm sorry, but we have business to deal with," George spoke to him.

  


Harry was sincerely confused. "What are you talking about?"

  


"Harry, I know your secret," George started. He had lowered his wand and was now pacing around Harry in a circle. He looked sly and business-like... very unGeorge.

  


Harry gave him a look. "I have secrets? Like what?"

  


"About Hermione."

  


He shook his head, expecting more. "And? What secrets about Hermione?"

  


George's lip curled into an almost menacing smile. "We all know you want to snog her."

  


"_What_?"

  


"Oh, Harry, come on. It's so obvious! We just know you've been a little shy..." George continued fatherly.

  


"But I-"

  


"So I've decided to do you a favor." He cleared his throat. "Next Hogsmeade visit, Fred'nI 'll ask her_ for_ you, so you don't have to worry about a thing, okay?"

  


"You just-"

  


"Good." George gave a very sickening smile and patted Harry on the cheek. Too lost for words and torn between laughter and screaming, Harry stayed in that broom cupboard with his arms up in a half-shrug, mouth gaping, for quite a bit. 

  


  


  


  


Be warned! This chapter can be very misleading! Or not! Hehe, guess you'll just have to wait and see. And I promise to update this soon. I have been neglecting this fic forever... like, literally... mostly because I had written myself into a corner with no good way out. But anyway, I hope y'all like it okay. And don't kill me yet- it's not done! There's yet more and more twists to come! And dancing! And music videos! And banana cotton candy! Just kidding... that would be kinda gross. I mean, who likes to _dance_? 


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